Isaiah 5:10

10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, ^[a] and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain. ^[b]”

Isaiah 5:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:10

Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath
They shall get nothing by laying field to field, for their fields shall be barren and unfruitful; though Jarchi and Kimchi take this to be a reason why their houses should be desolate, and without inhabitants, because there would be a famine, rendering the words, "for ten acres", &c. The Targum makes this barrenness to be the punishment of their sin, in not paying tithes; paraphrasing the words thus,

``for because of the sin of not giving tithes, the place of ten acres of vineyard shall produce one bath.''

The word (ydmu) signifies "yokes", and is used of yokes of oxen; hence the Septuagint and Arabic versions render the words thus, "for where ten yoke of oxen work", or "plough, it shall make one flagon"; and so Kimchi explains them, the place in a vineyard, which ten yoke of oxen plough in one day, shall yield no more wine than one bath. A bath is a measure for liquids; according to Godwin ^F1, it held four gallons and a half; a small quantity indeed, to be produced out of ten acres of ground; an acre, according to our English measure, being a quantity of land containing four square roods, or one hundred sixty square poles or perches: and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah:
that is, as much seed as an "homer" would hold, which was a dry measure, and which, according to the above writer, contained five bushels and five gallons, should yield only an ephah, which was the tenth part of an homer, ( Ezekiel 45:11 ) so that it would only produce a tenth part of the seed sown.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Moses and Aaron, l. 6. c. 9.

Isaiah 5:10 In-Context

8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.

9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.

10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain. ”

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.

12 At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally ten yoke of vineyard will yield a bath; that is, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day will yield approximately 5.8 gallons or 22 liters of wine.
• [b]. Literally and a homer of seed will yield an ephah; that is, a homer of seed (approximately 6.24 bushels or 220 liters) will yield a tenth of its weight in grain.